Nevermore Contest Entry
by EmpressOfSarcasm
Summary: It's been eighteen years. Yet Maximum Ride will never forget the sacrifices made to ensure the safety of the world her children live in. She fears them knowing her part in the Great Revolution but knows that one day they will find out.


**If I had entered the fanfiction contest for _Nevermore_, this would have been it. Sadly, I didn't get this written in time and it's over the word limit. It was inspired by the epilogue in _Mockingjay_. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

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My children play on a field of ashes and bones. They do not know it, for it is buried beneath a layer of dirt, grass, and wildflowers. But they do. And one day, they will know and they will never see their world the same way again.

Dylan and I swore that we'd keep the truth from them, about how we'd had a hand in the destruction of the old ways, about how our family came by our wings and powers. But we both knew that one day they'd learn, whether in school or from their cousins or other family members.

"They _will _find out," Iggy told us when they were born six years ago, the twin girls with pure golden hair and copper eyes. "And when they do they will either hate you or understand that it was not your decision."

But we'd made everyone swear not to tell them about the sacrifices we'd made for their behalf. About the little girl named Angel, who one was named for, had given her life to save ours and the little boy named Ari, who the second, Aria, was named after, who had been our savior and betrayer.

"They will not be normal," Ella told me when I'd found out I was pregnant. "They will not be able to live normally because they will be like you and have wings. It will only hurt them as they grow older."

I ignored her warnings and kept their childhood as innocent as I could. I shielded them from the harm their world could cause them. But one day they did find out we'd had some part in the Great Revolution. They didn't know how or why or what we did, but I hoped to keep it that way.

Dylan had wanted them so badly, but I'd been a little nervous about it at first. What if our kind weren't meant to bear children? What if they had a limited lifespan? Could I protect them from the cruelty of this world? But after two years of marriage, I finally agreed. I'd never felt so happy as to the day that I first found out I was carrying their young lives within me.

At first, Fang was weary of the situation. He'd wanted nothing to do with the girls or Dylan. I knew that he still loved me and I still loved him. But both of us knew that us not being together was for the best. Three years after the girls were born he finally accepted the fact that we could never be and was as good as family to Angel and Aria. He never forgave himself for not fighting for me. But I eventually forgave him.

Every night I tell the girls stories of life before the war. How the world looked and felt. Their favorite stories were about a girl and her best friend and how they found a way to love each other through everything they'd been through. There was happy ending to that story even though they could never be in the real world.

And as they slept I could always hear what remained of the Voice murmuring in the back of my mind, _All will be forgiven in the end._

But this wasn't the end. It was the beginning of a new story. Their story. The story of a new generation. They will never take for granted the stories I tell them or the gentle songs Dylan sings to them before they sleep. The tales of heroes and heroines who saved the people who surround them today. All might be forgiven but none of us will ever forget.

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**All you Fax fans please don't kill me. It's just that I think that James Patterson is going to troll us all and pair Max with Dylan in the end. I also think that Angel is going to die. (I've been wrong before though so keep your fingers crossed I'm wrong again.) Was anybody else confused by the excerpt from _Nevermore_ when they mentioned Ari being back? I was. So I think it's just a clone and he's gonna die but not before he helps the flock because there's still something good inside of him.**

**Also, I think that Holden will be the one to betray everybody. JP makes it pretty obvious in the excerpt. I also think there's going to be some sort of enormous battle at the end of the book and every institution in the world will change. (Hence the name "the Great Revolution.")**

**Please review!**

**~A$h**


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